Days of Peace, Nights of Blood
by Drako the Black Dragon
Summary: For thousands of years, the Forest Tribe has reigned supreme in the woods that make their home. But now, a force threatens to overthrow their power and usher in a new era of darkness... HIATUS
1. A New Home

**ATTENTION: To those of you who first read this chapter before December 12, 2009, you might want to read it again. Thanks to Farla (.net/u/64005/Farla), I have fixed some errors in chapters 1-3. 2 and 3 have just minor edits (mainly fixing capitalization), but this had a lot of work done on it. I'm pretty sure you won't be missing too much if you don't reread, but I still recommend you do.**

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

Blowtorch the charmander wandered through the forest, more scared than he had ever been in his life. He had just hatched this week, and already his Trainer had released him into the woods. He remebered overhearing him say something that could explain why. _"Are you kidding me? A lonely nature? As if a normal charmander's defense stat isn't low enough already!"_ So far, he had met nothing, but that might just be due to pure luck. He couldn't let his guard down in a place like this…

Something moved in the shadows. He whirled around in fear, but saw nothing there. "Who's there?!" he squealed, terrified. There was no answer. "I'm warning you… My father was a Pokémon League Champion!" Of course, his father was not really a Pokémon League Champion, but he at least wanted the thing, whatever it was, to be more afraid of him than he was of it.

"Pokémon League Champion, you say?" a voice challenged from behind him. He spun around to see who it came from. It was an intimidating-looking lucario with a scar on his eye and another running down his chest. There were also several nicks in his ears and tail. He continued, "I don't know or care what that is, but that doesn't change how much of a scrawny wimp you are."

"Oh yeah?! I dare you to come fight me!" Blowtorch shouted, trying as hard as he could to look as scary as possible. Maybe he still had a chance at scaring it away...

"Ssh! You'll wake every Pokémon for miles!" the lucario hissed, "But if you really want me to…"

He rushed forward with amazing speed, and in one mighty _thwack_ of his paw, the charmander was unconscious.

**=X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X=**

"Oh, the poor thing! What do you think he did to him?"

"It could have been anything, knowing Reaper."

"Ssh! He's waking up!"

Blowtorch opened his eyes slowly, aware of a dim pain in his side and sunlight streaming through a hole in the wall of a small, round room. "Ugh…" he moaned, "Where am I...?"

A gentle-voiced meganium answered, "You're in the Healer's Den of the Forest Tribe, sweetie."

Blowtorch looked at her. Even though he knew he should be afraid, she seemed to emanate some kind of soothing aura that drowned out all of his instincts that told him she was a potential threat. It didn't take long for him to gather enough courage to repeat, "Forest…Tribe?"

A bayleef spoke next. "Yes, the Forest Tribe. We rule under these trees, and we're proud of it! I believe you've already met one of our Fighters?"

Fighters? What were those? "Who's that?"

"Reaper. You know… About this tall," the bayleef made a motion with his neck to indicate, "dark grayish-blue, battle-scarred…"

The previous night came rushing back to him. "The… The lucario?" he said, his voice shaking with fear.

"Yeah, him," the young bayleef said, oblivious to the panic in the charmander's voice. The much more sensitive meganium glared at him to shut him up, promptly changing the subject. "Sorry, we've completely forgotten to introduce ourselves. I'm Ginger, and this is my son Orchid. I'm Tribe Healer, and he's in training to take over when I retire. Once you've healed a little bit more, we'll take you to the Leader so you can learn about your new life in the Tribe. We'll let you rest now, sweetie. You must be exhausted. Orchid! Come with me! Let's practice your basic mixtures. I've noticed that you've been failing in that area lately…"

"Aww, mom!" Orchid whined as he followed her into another room.

Blowtorch's head was still spinning. Reaper… Ginger… Orchid… The Leader… A new life in the Tribe… Reaper…

Oh, what had he gotten himself into now?


	2. Assignment

**CHAPTER TWO**

After a few days' time, Blowtorch was well enough to walk again. Ginger watched him carefully before deciding that he was ready to meet the Leader. "It's time," she murmured in his ear, then lead him out the door and into the open.

They emerged into a sunny clearing. Pokémon were everywhere, going about their usual everyday lives. Some were shopping, some younger ones were playing while their parents watched, and others were just hanging around and chatting. However, each one stopped to stare at the charmander as he crossed the space between the Healer's den and the Leader's cave. The reddish orange skin of his face turned even redder as he blushed from embarrassment. Did he look that strange? True, his hue was unusually red, and his eyes were connected by a black masklike marking, as were his shoulder blades. His hands, elbows, feet, knees and tail were also tipped with black, but he had never thought he looked all _that _weird. _**Just bear with it, Blowtorch**_, he told himself. _**We're almost there…**_

When they reached the mouth of the cave, Ginger told him to wait outside for her. She pushed through the leaves overhanging the entrance and was gone. Not long after, she returned and this time beckoned for him to follow her inside.

They walked through a narrow, moss-lined tunnel and into a large cavern. A heavy-looking, flat rock was pushed to the center to form a desk, and a dragonite sat behind it on a smaller rock that was used as a chair. He was younger than Blowtorch had expected, appearing to be only freshly evolved. Ginger cleared her throat loudly to get his attention.

"Hm?" he looked up. "Oh, it's you, Healer Ginger. Yes, I see you've brought the new recruit." _**New recruit?**_ Blowtorch thought, _**Does he mean me?**_ The dragonite rose from his seat and walked closer. "Yes… A charmander. It's been a while since we've had one of those in our clan, no? He looks fit and strong enough to begin training, don't you think?"

Ginger hesitated. "Well… I don't know… I mean, he is so new to the Tribe, and…" She sighed. "Oh, okay. I guess you're right."

The dragonite smiled. "Righty then! We'll have to assign him an Overseer, now won't we? Herm…" His deep purple eyes shone with thought. "From what I understand, he's more of the power type… Amanita's in no fit state to have a student right now… Momentum is already training… Hmm… It would seem the only one fit would be you, Reaper!"

Blowtorch gasped and looked at the lucario. He hadn't even noticed him standing in the shadows, watching the conversation unfold. His shock was amplified when he realized that his antagonist looked almost as scared as he did. "B-but... Leader Hurricane, I…"

Hurricane stared at him, his violet eyes just challenging him to say more. "You what? You're General, aren't you? Your specialty is in combat, is it not?"

Reaper shut up immediately. _**Gah, those eyes! There's just something about them that isn't natural…**_

He shook his head to clear it of the disturbing thought that had just come to mind. The Dragonite beckoned him closer, then hung an Overseer's amulet over his neck. Reaper nodded his thanks and approached Blowtorch, who flinched at the sight of him. "Come with me," he said, starting off toward the clearing without giving the charmander any time to argue. "I will show you to your new home, at least for now." His student followed him reluctantly, but followed him nonetheless. No words were exchanged between them until they reached the clearing once more.

Blowtorch glanced uncertainly at his Overseer many times over the course of just two minutes, not wanting to believe that this was happening. It couldn't be. No. No! No!!!

Reaper understood his fear. He was no more than a child, and a child that had been nearly killed in his darkest hour at that. What reason was there for him _not _to be afraid? Still, he knew he should calm the poor thing's aching nerves… It would never do to have a Fighter whose skills were crippled because in his years as a student, he had been too mortally afraid of his Overseer to learn anything useful.

"So you're still alive," he said to end the silence. Blowtorch didn't reply, but nodded his head slowly. Reaper didn't say anything for a while, then asked, "When you were crossing to Leader Hurricane's cave, the other pokémon… Did they stare at you?" Blowtorch nodded again in response. "Do you know why that is?"

Blowtorch looked up into his scarred face. Finally, he managed to muster the guts to speak. "No… Do you?"

"Yes, but it's best you don't know the reason until you're perfectly ready for it." He paused again, searching for something to get his student more used to talking to him…and also to get him more used to talking to his student. Damn it all, why was he so clumsy with children?

Blowtorch noticed the look of discomfort on his face. "Is something wrong, Master Reaper?" It made him feel better to know that he was not the only one uncomfortable.

"What? Umm... No, not at all! And…uhh… Don't call me Master! That's an order!"

Blowtorch smiled. He had more in common with the General than he had thought.


	3. Not So Happily Ever After

**CHAPTER THREE**

"Well... This is it. It's not much, but I hope you can get by anyway." Reaper looked around Blowtorch's room wistfully for one last time before he left the charmander to make himself at home. After a few seconds, he turned around and strode out the doorway. "Lunch will be ready in a few minutes. I highly suggest you get used to that room; you'll be living there for a long, long time."

Blowtorch's eyes sparkled with amazement. It was beautiful. The sun shone through a single, round window and illuminated a picture of a riolu who looked a lot like Reaper might have when he was young, without any scars of course. A painting of a flowered meadow full of beautifly hung over the bed in the corner. Water reeds had been woven together into a rectangular mat on the stone floor. A dream catcher hanging on a small bookcase fluttered lazily in the wind. One book lay open on the floor in front of it. He kneeled down in front of it to see better. He blew away the dust on the page (_**There's enough of this stuff on it to bury a wailord!**_) and looked at it.

There was a picture of a richly dressed, handsome lucario and beautiful lopunny holding hands, each one staring into the eyes of the other, the couple surrounded by flowers. The page had only one sentence on it:

_And then Cindy Ella married her Prince Delightful, and the two lived happily ever after._

A fairy tale? What would this be doing in General Reaper's house? Confused, he got up and sat on the bed. Before he had much time to think about it, the familiar voice of a lucario called him into the kitchen to eat.

**=X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X=**

Orchid had been sent to collect berries for his mother. Ugh. These chores were so boring! What, exactly, was he supposed to be learning from them? He was grumpily bending to pick off a branch from a Rawst plant when he heard the growl.

"Hold it, son. Your mother is the Forest Tribe's Healer, isn't she?"

Orchid spun around in fear. A mightyena grinned devilishly at him. He didn't like that grin... "Lead me to her!" he commanded.

"No!" Orchid yelled back defiantly. "I know what you want! You are NOT getting into the Forest Tribe capital!"

"So you want to play this game the hard way, do you? Very well then, I guess it's your choice…" He pointed his nose up at the full moon and howled.

_**Damn!**_ thought Orchid, _**He's summoned the rest of the pack!**_

The mightyena grinned again, his sharp, pointed teeth glittering in the moonlight, and watched the bayleef run. With such short legs, his prey could never outrun the mightyena pack assembling around him.

The hunt had begun.

**=X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X=**

"Could you _possibly_ want any more food?"

"Well, actually I—"

"It was a rhetorical question."

"General Reaper? What does rhetorical mean?"

"Ugh, never mind…" The lucario got up and scooped some more noodles onto his student's plate. He couldn't help but wonder if he ever _stopped_ eating. He was being even worse than he was during lunch! Yes, this kid made a snorlax look like it was on a diet.

After scarfing down the rest of his dinner, Blowtorch looked up at Reaper. "The room you gave me…" he started, unsure how to begin. "It's… Well, it's beautiful!"

Reaper smiled. "Oh, you like it?" It had been a while since he had had this kind of conversation with anyone. It was becoming obvious that Blowtorch's fear was ebbing away. The two of them were going to become good friends indeed.


End file.
